


Derelict

by AcerbicIron_y



Category: Hello Neighbor (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Childhood Trauma, Everyone Needs A Hug, Everything Hurts, Everything That Can Go Wrong Goes Wrong, Getting to Know Each Other, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Learning to trust, M/M, OCD - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Original Plot is Changed Heavily, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slow Burn, So much angst, but there will be a happy ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 07:57:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16657246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AcerbicIron_y/pseuds/AcerbicIron_y
Summary: Nicky Roth just moved from his small apartment in the busy, loud city to a tiny house in a silent neighborhood. Well, it would be quiet if his neighbor across the street wasn’t making all kinds of noise inside that enormous house of his. Nicky’s seen him run to and fro across his lawn and through the windows from his floor to his stairs like a mad man. Just what is he doing?





	1. Chapter 1

He stared blankly at the television which showed no images, or emitted any noise. His entire body was laying on his right side on the old couch. The only sound coming from the loud honking of traffic outside his apartment window. The sink stopped dripping water days ago and none of the lights in the tiny room worked. It was only a matter of time before the paper came in the mail.

Then, as if off cue, a few papers flew in from the metal slot followed by a few knocks at the door. A few seconds passed, before the footsteps in front of his door began to walk away. His brown eyes stayed fixated on both letters. He already knew that one of them was in bright red printed lettering telling him to leave the apartment, but he genuinely didn’t know what the second one was.

He weighed his options on either the now comfortable couch he had spent days indenting with his body, or the “get the hell out right now” letter with its unknown counterpart waiting to be picked up and opened.

Unfortunately curiosity won and he literally had nothing better to do since he quit his job.

He let out a long, tired sigh before he sat up from the couch. All of the blood that had stayed on one side this entire time suddenly rushed back all at once making him wince and put a hand to his head. As he waited for the pain to subside, he let out a yawn. A particularly loud honk outside finally made his sluggish state become more alert as he stood on the cold floor.

He made his way over to the two letters stacked on top of eachother. As predicted, one of the two had the word “Final Notice” written in angry red ink. He decided to bite the bullet and open the letter.

_”Because you failed to pay rent for the flat, you have to move out in three days. If not - it will result in taking you to the court”_

For the second time today, he let out a long sigh and let the letter and the envelope it came in fall to his bare feet. He then turned his attention to the second letter hand written in cursive. Immediately, his eyes widened at the paper.

“How did they find me?” He murmured quietly to himself. Honestly, he didn’t want to open the stupid thing. It’s been a long time since he’s seen that kind of perfect calligraphy presented to him. But just seeing that kind of penmanship made his wrist hurt whenever he had to try and achieve it once upon a time.

He took in a readied inhale, before he opened the second letter.

 _“Nicky,”_ He frowned. _Darling, I know how angry you still are, but please think of my next words. Your father has fallen very ill and we don’t think he has much time. I will be able to tell you more about this in person, but I have to give you this letter as soon as possible. I’m begging you, at least just this once, consider coming home. —Now and always, your loving mother”_

Nick reread the cursive words a few more times before he looked anywhere but at it. He felt his jaw clench whenever he dared to look at it again and notice the obvious tear marks smearing the words “begging” and “mother”.

He thought of her proper and polite voice as he crumpled up the letter and threw it at the door that brought it here. Anger bubbled through him as he thought of both of them. After all these years, he thought he had finally gotten away from them. He didn’t move on just a whim or to seek out a career. It was to finally get away from both his crying mother and pleading father asking for his forgiveness.

Quickly, Nick decided to cross over to the kitchen before he started to remember their faces. He didn’t want to look at them, or speak to them, or think about them. He threw open the fridge and looked between the only two occupants of the fridge. A brown banana or half filled bottle of lemon-flavored carbonated water that lost all its carbonation. He took the lemon water and downed it in three big gulps, before he closed the fridge again.

The motion of a shadow flying by his window caught his attention. As Nick looked out it, the sun was now painting the sky orange as it began to slowly descend over the horizon. The birds were currently flying in a V. Suddenly he was reminded of just how cold this apartment got during the winter, and no heat venting through didn’t help at all. He shivered as he went to the closet by the front door and took out his large green blanket.

He bundled up in it and flopped on the now freezing couch. Nick cranked his head uncomfortably on the arm of the couch and focused on getting his teeth to stop chattering. His stomach let out a loud growl indicating he was hungry, but his appetite wasn’t there. He looked at both of the letters on the floor. One an angry notice and the other a pleading request. He didn’t have a job, now a house, food, warmth, water, family, or anyone.

Nick knew he had to be out by tomorrow morning. The three day notice is to prove to the judge that they sent you a notice. The truth was they just wanted you to be there so they could take you to court and steal any scraps of money you had left. And the worst part was you had to sit in that court room absolutely helpless as you either payed or went to jail. There is no meaning with the word “justice.” Nick of all people knew that much. 

His eyes went up to the door, before they began to feel heavy. He wasn’t worried about getting another job, and he knew there was always one place he could go, but the problem was he really _really_ didn’t want to go there.

That place that ruined his life. The reason he feels as miserable as he does. He barely had his eyes open, but exhaustion he didn’t know he had decided he needed to rest. His eyes shut, and he fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I’m so sorry about taking so long to update! Writers block hit me hard and all the work I was loaded with didn’t help at all. But here I am to give you more of this story for you lovely readers. I will try to keep a consistent schedule, but please be patient with me. Thank you all so much for the support, and I hope you enjoy!

The sound of someone pounding their fist against his door filled the hollow apartment. He registered the sound through his tired brain and forced his half open eyes to look over to his window. It was still dark out.

“Open up!” A booming voice outside yelled through the wood. Harsh knocking was followed to emphasize the man’s tone. 

That seemed to be what it took to completely wake Nick up as he flung his blanket off his body and darted up with the grace of a newborn baby faun. He didn’t even register the cold of the small living space as he bolted to the closet which kept his suitcase and began to frantically navigate his way through the tiny apartment.

He put his shoes on despite not wearing any socks and began to scramble around the house to pack all of his things. The pounding and anger from the man on the other side of his door made him more frantic. After a few seconds of flinging his body around the room looking for his things, he finally managed to finish and shut the suitcase closed, before he bolted right to the window.

”Break it!” The man commanded. And almost immediately after, there was the sound of something being rammed into the door over and over while he began to thoroughly examine the height from here to the ground. Nick was in a three story building living on the second floor. The freezing wind lashed wildly at his hair as he noticed two trashcans that he could attempt to stand on.

His heart pounded just as loud as whoever was trying to get through his door. He made sure his suitcase was locked before he lowered it with his arm as much as it allowed him to shorten the distance in any way, before he let go of it. Then, he ran for his blanket, and looked at the two letters on the floor. He debated going for them, and finally his conscience won as he grabbed the letter from his mother from the floor.

As soon as his hand grazed the paper, the door bursted open and hit the opposite wall which definitely sounded like it left a hole. Two angry men, one with a blue uniform, and the other in the same attire holding what looked like a mini battering ram stood in the doorway.

Nick bolted toward the window as the two men were hot on his heels. He practically dove out of the window not giving a shit if he broke any bones in the heat of the moment as the officers claw for his shirt. His stomach dropped as he fell for a moderate distance before he landed hard on his back as it collided with the street below.

The air was knocked out of him and his head wouldn’t stop spinning as he stared at one of the men poking his head out of the window and staring at him. Once the man saw where and how he landed, he immediately disappeared from the window to meet him.

Nick panted heavily as he practically forced air down his lungs and got up. He grabbed his suitcase and blanket before he dashed straight for his car. He fumbled for the keys in his pocket and practically jammed the tiny metal into the slot of his car door. As soon as the door was thrown open, he threw his suitcase in the passenger side before getting in and slamming the door shut.

Once he pressed the button to lock the door, Nick took a few seconds to let the adrenaline run it’s course through his body. His lungs burned and now his stomach twisted from having nothing to eat. He rested his head on the steering wheel and panted heavily in his car. An impatient knock at his window left him met with one of the men in front of his car. “You failed to leave within the time given to you!” The man yelled at him. “Open the door! You’re being detained!

One thing that eased his nerves was that the house he planned on staying in was out of this town’s jurisdiction. He rolled down his window just a tiny bit, before he dug through his pockets and took out his apartment key. He dropped it through the tiny slot before he started the car, and practically slammed his foot on the pedal.

He watched the surprised expression from the man who had just been at his side only moments ago and smiled at the satisfaction. He let his heartbeat slow down a bit before he glanced down at his gas tank and saw he had about half a tank left. His car may not have been in the best condition, but he knew it was a reliable car. Frost on the windshield caused him to squint and get really close to it just so he didn’t hit anyone or drive through red lights. 

He shivered as he turned on the heater, which blasted cold air, and the wind shield wipers which helped to scrape the frost a little bit. As he waited for the car to not be an icebox, he paid attention to the road to make sure he didn’t miss the turns on where he was supposed to go. A car honked at him for driving too slow on the highway, and he frowned whenever he discovered nothing good was playing on the radio.

He pat his hand against his chest pocket to make sure he still had money. He took quick glances at the road to make sure he wouldn’t hit anybody, and opened his wallet. He counted all of his 24,000 roubles in it before he shut it and put it back in his pocket.

Just because Nick didn’t pay anything didn't mean he didn’t mean he didn’t have the money to. Working under his rude boss was completely worth it to save up this much money. And the reason he wouldn’t pay his rent was because his landlord, the one who sent the police on him two days early, was an asshole. He just had to wait for the right opportunity to get the hell out of there.

Whenever the frost was sort of gone, he shut off his windshield wipers. The sun was now barely starting to rise, and the heater was now just beginning to vent warmish air, letting him completely relax. He drew out a long sigh now that he could actually breathe, and let a corner of his mouth twitch while he watched the road.

Nick made sure to look into the rear-view mirror to see if any of those cops were following him. Usually around this time the cops of this city wouldn’t be bothered so early in the morning with chasing someone who was “breaking the law,” but he didn’t want to accidentally get caught because he was too confident. He looked into it for a few seconds to just see normal cars driving behind him and nothing else.

He turned up the radio and didn’t care if it was a terrible song; he still sang along with it. Somehow he felt happy in that moment. He didn’t own a house or food right now, and he wasn’t even sure if the house he was going to was still working like he thought, but he went with a _rare_ feeling telling him it probably was, which he decided to take a gamble on and just wait and see.

Soon the brilliant sun beginning to barely peak out turned to the pale glow of the moon high in the dark sky. He had been driving the whole damn day. Nick had stopped once at the gas station to put gas and get a bag of chips which he snacked on throughout the day, before he had finally seen the name of the town he was entering, and felt dread begin to bubble up at his stomach.

Honestly, if Nick wasn’t in what you would call “desperate times” right now, he would probably never have come back to this neighborhood. Maybe even yell up into the sky at all the wrong its done him like how the main protagonist does in the movies, but someone would probably think he was a nutcase and call the cops on him.

This town never has been busy in the night or the day, so it came off as no surprise whenever there wasn’t a car in sight or any lights on. That reason being obvious since it was the middle of the night, and unlike the city he had just driven the entire day from, this town did sleep.

If his heart wasn’t currently busy keeping him on high alert with adrenaline, Nick would have been exhausted from an entire day of driving nonstop. But despite his eyes starting to get heavy on the way over here, they were now wide as he scanned the street names, until he finally matched the one he remembered those hellish memories from.

As soon he got close enough to the street to turn on it, he slowed down his car significantly, and kept his eyes strictly on the left side of the street. Every one of these houses looked abandoned. Not broken-down or falling apart, but it was obvious nobody lived in them. Finally, he slammed on his breaks whenever the house he was looking for was directly in front of him.

A relatively small house with chipping white paint. A two bedroom house with only one bathroom, leaving the rest of the house to be the living room and the kitchen. The fence that was around it also had chipping paint, and some of it was either broken off, or missing completely. The beautiful garden he once remembered was now covered in dead grass and weeds. Some of it even reaching up to the house and the doorstep.

After his examination of the house had been concluded, he sighed and rested his head on the steering wheel. He couldn’t believe he had let himself get to this point.

He didn’t lift his head for a few more seconds, before he got his suitcase, and sluggishly got out of his car. Nick walked up to the house and began to feel his hand under the porch. It took a few seconds to find, but he grabbed what he was looking for and pulled it back to look at.

The same silver key they used to keep under the porch whenever he was a kid. He busied his mind with getting around the weeds and unlocked the door once he got to it.

The moment of truth. He flicked up the lightswitch and—

Nothing. The light stayed off. Maybe they had finally stopped paying the house. He was about to think of what he was going to do next, until the light stuttered a few times before staying on.

Nick stayed standing there for a few seconds. “So they still keep paying it.” He said to himself as he shut the door. Ever since the incident, his parents still felt some kind of guilt and never stopped paying for this house even after they finally left.

He walked over to the items that were covered with white cloths and began pulling them off. They covered a television, a couch, and a lamp. He set his suitcase down on the couch and turned on the light to the kitchen. He looked at the three closed doors and made sure he remembered the bathroom was the middle one.

Nick walked in and turned on the light. He looked in the mirror and saw what he had looked like. His hair was a mess, he had bloodshot eyes with dark circles, and stubble growing on his chin. “Holy shit.” He murmured as he stared at himself. He knew he looked a little less than pretty, but he didn’t think it had gotten this bad.

He looked at the monstrousity in the mirror for a few more seconds before he shut off the light and walked back over to the living room. He decided he would deal with his appearance, and everything else in the morning. It was probably middle of the night right now and he just wanted to get to bed. He put his suitcase on the ground beside him before he lay down on the couch.

As he began to drift off, Nick had one of the most irrational thoughts come to mind: that he was being watched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Rouble” is the Russian currency. 24,000 roubles is roughly 800 dollars American.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Decided to surprise you all with a double update! Enjoy~

Nick opened his eyes to the sound of a power drill loudly coming from somewhere. He decided it was annoying, but he could still sleep through it since he was exhausted. He simply adjusted his head until he got comfortable again, and closed his eyes.

The sound of a lawnmower suddenly had him prying his eyes open a few minutes later. He let out a groan and sat up from the couch. He looked over to the window to see it was probably mid day judging by the sun and the light peeking into what would have been the dark house.

He had a scowl set tight on his face as he finally saw the source of all the noise. A man across the street from him was busy mowing his lawn. Nick was about to try and get back to sleep even with all the noise, whenever he actually got a look the guy’s house.

The ‘house’ he was looking at was _massive_. It looked to be a three story building with a shit ton of bright colors. All sleepiness seemed to disappear the more he stared at the thing. It looked like something taken directly out of an abstract painting. He almost couldn’t believe his eyes whenever he saw a mini _train_ weave its way around the tracks on the damn house.

Nick suddenly didn’t feel tired at all as he sat up and stared in awe at the bizarre house. It was only whenever he realized the lawnmower was no longer making any noise that he looked over to the man who apparently owned the house.

But the man across the street was staring at him already. He was the average height for a man, an older man with a pair of the brightest green eyes Nick had ever seen, and brown hair. The man had a strong jawline and a well kept mustache. He was actually an attractive man, but the glare he was giving Nick was very potent in dislike.

The man then dusted off himself, before he finally took his eyes off of him and went into his crazy house.

Nick frowned. That was really weird.

Whenever he realized he was no longer being stared down, he rubbed his aching eyes from not blinking and stretched. He yawned and headed to his suitcase. Nick hummed a tune he forgot the name of as he gathered a pair of clean clothes and headed for the bathroom.

Today was shaping out to be an odd day for him and he at least wanted to make it somewhat normal. He got in the shower and cursed just about every swear in the book whenever he got hit in the face with ice water. He didn’t have soap with him at the moment, and he didn’t want to contract some kind of disease from using expired soap in the cabinets, so good old water would have to do for now.

As soon as he was done with his miserable shower of cold, he got out and realized he didn’t have a fucking towel. Well, he didn’t want to stay in the bathroom all day and he had to get dry somehow, so he would have to deal with himself walking in his birthday suit around the house.

Nick at least had the decency to attempt to stay out of his neighbor’s line of sight, so he avoided the window like it was the plague.

”Alright Nick.” He said to himself. “What do you need?” He set to work on getting a pen from his suitcase and using the back of an instruction manual to the TV he found on the floor and wrote down what he needed.

”food, soap, towels, plates, and more clothes.” He stared at the list and surprised himself with how he really didn’t care about what he got. He wasn’t picky with food in all honesty, and he could use more clothes since he literally only had three outfits, but that was all he really needed.

He read over his list again before he deemed himself dry enough to put on his clothes and sauntered back over to get his toothbrush, toothpaste, shaving cream and razor.

He turned in the faucet and brushed his teeth to find that he looked slightly less better than yesterday. At least his eyes weren’t as red as they were and the dark bags under his eyes were sort of gone. But the back of his head hurt like hell which he figured was probably from the fall he took jumping out of that window yesterday.

He finished brushing his teeth and inhaled the cool mint now staining his mouth, before he doused his face in shaving cream, and picked up his razor. Nick usually had stubble and never fully got a beard. Which was weird considering he had actively tried to grow one in his life and only barely got a scruff. But to him, he thought he looked better clean shaven.

He got the last of the cream and rinsed off the excess product that was still on his face. Now he felt like a decent human being and decided it was time to head to the store and get a few things.

Nick fixed his damp hair in a more neat manner before he put on his shoes, got his keys, pen, list, and headed out the door.

He locked the house and gave the handle a firm twist just to make sure it was properly locked before he turned around with full intentions to head to his car, whenever he found himself halt at a bizarre sight.

The same guy from earlier was in his house, which was ordinary enough, but he was staring out the window holding binoculars and looking around the neighborhood. Nick watched the man with an odd expression on his face before the guy suddenly pointed his binoculars at him.

As soon as the man had seen Nick was now watching him, he immediately pulled the binoculars from his face, and turned around to go further into his house.

”What the fuck.” Nick said to himself. “Curtains. I need curtains.” He murmured as he wrote just that on his list. He examined the weeds in the yard and wrote down gloves and a watering can too, before he got in the car and drove off.

This town was pretty small and had more forest than anything else. But they did have a grocery store which was actually kind of in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, he lived pretty close to it and got what he needed with no trouble.

He’d never been a picky eater despite the fact that he didn’t really eat all that much, and opted for getting frozen foods like vegetables and a few noodle cups just because they were convenient. He got some apples and oranges in case he wanted a snack and got a few T-shirt’s.

He tried to ration his money well and get what he absolutely needed since he really didn’t want to go into the work force again. The most expensive thing he got was definitely the vacuum cleaner he decided to get last minute. But at least that was all the shopping for now.

He drove back to his house to see his neighbor tending to the flowers that were growing. He was on his knees moving soil and patting the earth to secure it once he was satisfied.

Nick watched him for a bit and actually smiled a little to see the guy not glaring daggers at him or acting weird. It was kind of nice to see him look so focused on tending to those flowers. And from the looks of the sweat on his brow, he was working hard on the task at hand.

Nick got out of his car and opened the door to his house before returning and loading out the groceries. Once he finished, he shut the car, locked it, and went back in the house.

He set up the orange curtains, put what needed to go in the kitchen and bathroom in their respective places and then got to work on cleaning the shit out of the house.

He opened all of the windows, shook out the rugs and sheets, vacuumed the floors and then got on his hands and knees to scrub the tile, washed the windows, and then sprayed the house in air freshener he found once he was completely finished.

He took a second to breath in satisfaction before he put on some gloves, got a bag, and got to work on pulling weeds from the ground. It was a bitch to do, and took about two hours to get all of them, but at least it was done. Then, he got the watering can and walked around the yard to hopefully have some _nice_ plants grow.

Nick was lost in his thoughts watering the yard whenever he startled at a sudden crash and yell from across the street.

He took a moment to himself to confirm what he had thought happened, had indeed just happened, and wasting no more time, he dropped his watering can and ran to the house. He was about to knock on the door, whenever he realized the door was already slightly open. He opened the door and walked inside.

The house was huge. The ceilings were super high and the doorway was super wide. He looked around to see paintings of the same eye on the wall, a shoe on the table in the kitchen, and he walked in far enough to see a lamp and a mannequin in the middle of the room.

He looked around the place and kept eyeing another strange thing after the other. Another loud crash made him remember why he was technically breaking and entering someone’s house. “Hello?” He yelled out.

No answer. He walked down the hallway a little and knocked on a wall in case the guy was in one of the nearby rooms. “Hey, I heard you yelling.” He continued loudly. “Are you hurt?”

Finally, he heard the sound of quick stomping heading through the house and getting closer to him. The urgency of the steps rapidly approaching him made him consider making a break for his house, whenever he saw the man.

The guy gasped once their eyes met and practically ran at him.

Nick took in the man’s messy hair and clothes. “Are you alrig—“

”What are you doing here?” The man demanded right in his face.

Nick took a step back at the sudden proximity. “I heard you yell and came to see if you were hur—“

”What does it matter to you?” The man snapped at him. “Get out of here!”

He took steps back only for the man to replace where he’d been only a moment ago. “I didn’t mean to offend you, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” Nick told the man.

”As you can see, I’m perfectly fine.” The man stated bluntly. “You may leave.” He said as he assured him out the door.

Nick gasped whenever he saw the man’s arm. “You’re bleeding!” He exclaimed at the large gash.

The man glanced down at his arm and furrowed his brows at the sight, before turning back to Nick. “I’ll take care of it.” He dismissed. ”And don’t enter my house without my permission!” He said before he gave Nick a slight shove, and slammed the door in his face.

He stood there for a few moments trying to process what had just occurred. His neighbor then appeared at the window by the door, glaring at Nick.

”Leave!” He commanded. And immediately shut his curtains for emphasis.

Nick stood there with what he could only imagine was a dumb look on his face before he gathered enough sense to slowly make his way back to his house.

Any sane person would probably decide to ignore somebody like that. Maybe even get the fuck out of their house as soon as possible, but the fact that Nick was now insanely interested in the man next door made him think he was just as crazy as the guy himself.

He wanted to know everything about him. Why he did the things he did and acted the way he did. Why he got so upset whenever Nick had went into his house. Not even caring about his injury enough to do anything before he accomplished his goal of getting Nick _out of that house._

Now Nick _had_ to know. And he would start by finding out that man’s name.


End file.
